Welcome to Flight 021 (September2025)! This Flight has been delayed but Flight 22 is scheduled to be released as usual (3rd week of October). As you might have figured out, September is the busiest month for a teacher and choices had to be made (students first, sorry :) ).
Flight 021
This month no new study guide but two old ones revisited. SPQ4R helps to study material from textbooks and other written material. Study guide 008 warns about the pitfall of highlighting. Highlighting is mostly passive learning and you want to get into active learning.
Use of English starts with Grammar Basics: State Verbs while Advanced Grammar: appositives is revisited. Idioms kick off with the elements, starting with water this month, with ‘countries’ revisited. Phrasal verbs and Word formation are steady as they go.
Listening continues with “What in the World” by the BBC and is about how a Kenyan athlete was drafted to the Russian army against his will. Don’t forget to download the MP3-file from the BBC website as you never know what the BBC has up its sleeve for the future.
Speaking continues with the long turn and cooperative task. Pronunciation moves on to vowels, having two lessons, one introductory and one on the difference between /e/ (DRESS) and /æ/ (TRAP). Presentations revisits using your voice effectively and as usual includes a task to do a presentation to practise this.
Essay writing is also revisited so we start with lesson 1: introduction.
Creative writing continues symbols and metaphors and the creative writing task is the number game: your personal numbers determine your story.
Flight 021
You can download the complete Flight 021 here (zip-file at Stack):
Flight 020 will still be available for a month.
Flight 021 Contents
Study Guides
Study Guide 007: SPQR (Revisited)
Study Guide 008: highlighting (Revisited)
Vocabulary
OWL 057: Law - Legal issues with municipality
OWL 058: Work - Vocational work for non-profits
OWL 007: Technology - Cybersecurity (Revisited)
OWL 008: Science - Science (Revisited)
Use of English
Grammar Basics 003: Static Verbs
Advanced Grammar 004: Appositives (Revisited)
Idioms 016: water
Idioms 004: body countries(Revisited)
Phrasal Verb 016: BRING
Phrasal Verb 004: LET (Revisited)
Word Formation 016: NEED
Word Formation 004: DETERMINE (Revisited)
Listening
Listening 033: What in the World - “How a Kenyan athlete became a soldier for Russia”
Speaking
Speaking - Individual Long Turn 016: Groups - General
Speaking - Individual Long Turn 004: Work - Jobs (Revisited)
Speaking - Cooperation 016: Social - young people grow
Speaking - Cooperation 004: Technology - Improvements in (Revisited)
Speaking - Pronunciation 016a: vowels
Speaking - Pronunciation 016b: /e/ (DRESS) and /æ/ (TRAP)
Speaking - Pronunciation 004: /ɹ/ (Revisited)
Speaking - Presentations 04: Using your voice effectively (Revisited)
Writing
Essay Writing 01: Introduction (Revisited)
Creative Writing 004: symbol and metaphor / prompt: number game
Reading
August was a great month for reading (and I can already tell you, September will be the opposite!).
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding
Although the book has a lot of detailed information about forests and forest ecosystems in particular, it feels more like a memoir, focussing on the personal in the title. This is not a bad thing of course, but makes it a different book than I anticipated (maybe I should read Daltun’s The Magic of an Irish Rainforest for that).
The book brought back memories of the Beara Way I walked decades ago. Merely recognising place names like Eyeries and Allihies brought back fond memories of nature, friends, and freedom.
The book is somewhat chronological, having Daltun’s own forest as as way marker. Yet, later in the book the structure gets a bit loose and every chapter deals with a specific aspect of ecosystems.
Daltun’s main message is to let nature have its way without much interference. Nature does not need us to survive, but we need nature to survive ourselves.
Overall it was a good read. We need more personal journeys to help us understand the importance of a balanced life with nature.
The Safekeep
Although the writing is good and the ideas are interesting, this novel lacks some cohesion and at times feels contrived.
Although every novel is an artificial construct and every piece is placed deliberately, in The Safekeep it often feels set pieces were placed too conveniently.
However, the novel shows promise and perhaps van der Wouden should allow herself more pages to create a world, develop characters, and take the time to let the story unfold gradually.
Empire of AI
An extensive research into OpenAI and Sam Altman with in-depth, behind the scenes information. The is a must-read for anyone who has to deal with AI (and that is probably everybody).
Written in an accessible and pleasant style this is a vital read with historic significance. It lifts the marketing veil to show real people with real hopes and real anxiety having real influence on our everyday lives.
The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering
In his philosophical reflections on the art of lingering, acclaimed cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han argues that the value we attach today to the vita activa is producing a crisis in our sense of time. Our attachment to the vita activa creates an imperative to work which degrades the human being into a labouring animal, an animal laborans. At the same time, the hyperactivity which characterises our daily routines robs human beings of the capacity to linger and the faculty of contemplation. It therefore becomes impossible to experience time as fulfilling.
Drawing on a range of thinkers including Heidegger, Nietzsche and Arendt, Han argues that we can overcome this temporal crisis only by revitalising the vita contemplativa and relearning the art of lingering. For what distinguishes humans from other animals is the capacity for reflection and contemplation, and when life regains this capacity, this art of lingering, it gains in time and space, in duration and vastness.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
Interesting and original combination of science about and love for trees. Each short chapter explores a new aspect about trees that will change your forest walk or city stroll. Definitely recommended if you want to know more about trees without getting lost in much scientific mumbo-jumbo.
Enemy of God
This is the sequel to The Winter King, which I read earlier this year and awarded with 5 stars, but it is weaker. It has the same writing style yet misses a strong central plot line. It felt as if the book was setting things up for the third part, Excalibur, rather than focusing on its own story.
The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?
Interesting book with an important message: meritocracy is a myth and harms both people and society.
Even if implemented perfectly, a meritocracy always includes factors people cannot control. Yet those at the top will show hubris and those at the bottom resentment. It drives societies apart. This also explains the rise of populist movements, the Brexit, and the MAGA movement of Donald Trump.
The book tends to be a bit repetitive but its message is profound.
Student Read of the Month
The Student Read of the Month is Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu. This novel explores the three generations of Chinese during and after World War II.
Peach Blossom Spring tells the story of Meilin and her son, Renshu, who flee their home in 1938 China as war approaches. They journey through a devastated country, finding strength in an illustrated hand scroll filled with ancient fables. Years later, Renshu, now Henry, builds a life in America but refuses to share his painful past with his daughter, Lily. The novel explores the weight of history, the search for identity, and the struggle to reconcile the past with hopes for a better future across generations and continents.
Author: Melissa Fu
Published: 2022
Pages: 400
CEFR: B2
Plot Complexity: high
Language Complexity: moderate
Ideas Complexity: moderate
You can find more novel ideas at www.rookreading.com.